Optical Code Alignment for AR-Guided Medical Implement Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing augmented reality (AR) systems face challenges in accurately aligning virtual elements with real-world environments, particularly in scientific, engineering, and medical applications, where precise positioning and orientation are crucial but often achieved through time-consuming and inaccurate manual methods.
Innovation Solution
The use of optical codes, such as AprilTags or 2D barcodes, affixed to both patients and medical instruments, allows for automatic alignment of image data sets with real-world views, enabling precise positioning and orientation of medical implements within AR headsets by integrating visual markers and optical codes to facilitate automatic detection and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual alignment methods are used to position virtual elements in AR systems, then ease of operation is maintained, but measurement precision and alignment accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces optical codes as intermediary objects that mediate between the physical environment and the virtual elements. These codes serve as detectable markers that enable automatic alignment without requiring manual intervention, thus improving measurement precision while maintaining ease of operation through automated processes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical alignment operations with automated optical detection and computational alignment systems. By using cameras to detect optical codes and algorithms to calculate transformations, the system substitutes human-operated mechanical adjustment with automated optical-mechanical systems, achieving higher precision without increasing operational complexity
2Productivity
If manual alignment procedures are employed in medical procedures, then device complexity is reduced, but productivity and time efficiency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-attaching optical codes to medical instruments and patient anatomy before the procedure begins. This pre-positioning of detectable markers enables rapid automatic alignment during the procedure, significantly improving productivity without requiring complex real-time adjustment mechanisms, thus balancing speed with manageable system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service alignment where the AR system automatically detects optical codes and computes alignment transformations without requiring manual intervention. This automated self-alignment process improves productivity by eliminating time-consuming manual procedures while keeping device complexity moderate through the use of standard computer vision and image processing algorithms
3Measurement precision
If optical codes are used for automatic alignment, then measurement precision and productivity improve, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by using optical codes that serve multiple functions: they provide positioning information, orientation data, and identification of specific anatomical landmarks or instruments. This multi-functionality allows a single simple optical code structure to achieve high positioning accuracy without requiring complex specialized sensors or markers for each function, thus improving measurement precision while limiting the increase in device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A technology is described for using a medical implement or a fluoroscopic image with reference to an image data set and a body of a person. A method may include detecting visual image data of a body of a patient and a medical implement. The optical codes on the body of the patient and on the medical implement may be identified. One operation is aligning the image data set with the body of the person using one or more optical codes on the body of the person and the fixed position of an image visible marker with respect to the optical code. A position of the medical implement with respect to the body of the person may be determined using one or more optical codes on the medical implement and the body of the person to reference the medical implement to the image data set and the body of the person.